LOWLIFE

Ensemble films about petty criminals that show the same situation from different perspectives are either by Tarantino, or they are bad because they try to copy Tarantino. Ryan Prows’ LOWLIFE is an exception to that rule: in four chapters the misanthropic schemes of the top-crook Teddy “Bear” Haynes and all those who pass through his poisonous world, are told. Yet this L.A. film is never condescending or overly gossipy, but tells the story of a downwards spiral all the way to a final strike in the gut with biting humor, grotesque violence and eccentric characters, including a Mexican wrestler named El Monstruo: one of the great discoveries of the year!